Secretary Of Veterans Affairs Under Investigation For Europe Trip

VA OIG is now investigating Secretary David Shulkin concerning his decision to use taxpayer money to fly his wife to Europe and pay for her meals.

The July trip was for ten days to London and Denmark and included watching a Wimbledon tournament match, a river cruise, visiting the Little Mermaid statue, and seeing of other sites. VA press secretary Curt Cashour tried to justify the trip stating a VA ethics team approved payment of the Secretary’s wife’s trip.

If that is the advice VA ethics professionals came up with, there is little wonder the agency is a complete train wreck with ongoing whistleblower retaliation, and ongoing fraud, waste, and abuse of authority programs nationwide.

This is the fifth IG investigation into cabinet members of the Trump administration.

This one falls into the “no duh” category of Lord of the Flies ad hoc justifications. The Secretary made a bad move approving his wife’s vacation using taxpayer money.

The trip, when considering security, cost many tens of thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands.

ABOUT FOUNDER
Benjamin Krause is a lawyer, investigative reporter and award-winning veterans advocate. He is author of the guide Voc Rehab Survival Guide for Veterans and chief editor of DisabledVeterans.org.
He received his Bachelors from Northwestern University and Law Degree from the University of Minnesota, both using VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment.
He is also featured regularly in national publications as an authority on Department of Veterans Affairs policy such as Bloomberg News, Foreign Policy Magazine, Washington Times, Fox News, CBS, NBC, Star Tribune and more.
_____________________________________________________________

Secretary Shulkin has completed his inspection of the Wimbledon veteran healthcare system and has taken personal time also to investigate American children cultural icons in Europe and abroad and the contribution they all make to US veteran healhcare. Dr. Shulkin reports there are no US veterans on the wait list at either Wimbledon or the Little Mermaid exhibit.

… and in other news, convicted serial rapists across across the country are celebrating a new Supreme Court ruling confirming that rape can indeed be considered a matter of personal ethics rising above existing and inflexible statute and instructions to the jury to consider the victims feeling are unconstitutional. Convictions are bring set aside. Oversees the US reports that ISIS has also furnished a report to the UN clearly outlining for the international commuity that most, if not all, of their actions are sanctioned by the VA ethics committee sister committee within ISIS, Crimson Tide, according to the Crimson Tide ethics committee spokesman on Wednesday. US legislators are calling for withdraw of troops.

Meanwhile lawmakers in the US struggle with balancing the laws on the books against the very real considerations of the various Federal Ethics Committees which are up again for funding this year at record levels. The Senate is debating a new bill authorizing a “master” ethics committee to more closely align their actions to someday comply with federal law. Opponents in congress point out the system has worked great for generations of folks just like Dr. Shulkin and the vets he serves. Minority opposition argues that if we followed the laws as they are written we could save billions – a claim that some in Congress suggest is unethical…

First:
Having the OIG investigate anything is useless. They stop short of telling the truth. They have yet to send anything to the DOJ for criminal prosecution! All while veterans continue to die!

Secondly:
After watching the, 6:44 minute long, video of Shulkin lying to veterans and taxpayers, it’s hard to either keep from laughing or puking!
Even though CNN’s reporter asked some good questions, unless one has direct knowledge of VA’s MASSIVE fraud, waste and abuse, his answers will go as telling the truth!
Of course, anyone watching CNN will believe Shulkin. Because CNN “IS FAKE NEWS!” And, I believe Shulkin knows he can LIE his ass off, and NOT be “…called on the carpet…” for it!

I believe 91Veteran said it best, [paraphrasing]. Shulkin will bide his time, retire with full benefits, then go to work at Healthnet or somewhere else!
I believe he’ll go to work for “Big Pharma!” He’s the perfect kind of person for them – a lying, theiving little toad!

If I had to bet money, I would bet he goes to work for Centene. Unless he goes to work for Pig Pharma as a lobbyist, I think he would make more money at Centene given the direction of Choice and other federal health programs they are involved in.

Centene might out-bid other companies simply because of Shulkins connections to those still left in government.

You know what would be an interesting investigation? Looking at Shulkins travel for his entire tenure at the VA.

Has he taken wifey-poo on other chicken cooking trips at taxpayer expense? If so, why was the media silent about those? Was it because he was a part of the Obama administration then?

Not defending his actions at all, but I wish the media would be a little more serious about their investigations of wrong-doing at all times, not just when the White House occupant changes. The VA might not have gotten to be such a flaming dumpster fire.

Shulkin should have known his Obama protection would disappear eventually.

So this is supposed to be the Elliot Ness of the VA rooting out corruption? Diana Rubens and her corrupt HR department at Philly seem to be safe for now. But the sums they allegedly defrauded our Veterans of are in the hundreds of millions not thousands.

Shulkin knew he was being unethical and immoral when he set this trip up. No doubt, the very sizeable speaker’s fees Shulkin was being paid for speaking at the events in London, Sweden and Denmark. While meetings with foreign Big Pharma representatives from countries across the globe. In this case it is clear that Shulkin’s ethics and morals took a backseat and the speaker fees he earned was clearly in control.

So far, the multiple heavy coats of Hogwash now being abundantly applied throughout the press by the VA press secretary Curt Cashour. Have certainly been doing the job. While everyone is now looking at how corrupt it was to pay for his wife’s expenses on this European speaking tour with taxpayer’s dollars. No one is looking at the more egregious corruption of how Shulkin was selling out American Veterans while being paid by foreign Big Pharma to meet outside the country.

So now with Cashour’s very thorough job of Hogwashing in the press. Shulkin’s lack of morals and ethics are now ready to receive the numerous coats of WhiteWash generously applied by good old hide the Facts Michael J. Missal the, so called, Inspector General.

After which it will be given back to Cashour for the final coats of VA Turd Polish.

And the VBA management illegal bonuses could very well be continuing to this day. For example Rubens the Philly director has her managers crowing about their numbers all day long. They are not telling people they are counting overtime people are working to come up with these numbers. And very likely management bonuses are being paid on these juiced numbers. Rubens and her HR staff are experts on the hustling game. The domestic variety. Not sophisticated enough for the international type.

And the Spinmeisters reported that he was in Europe to discuss veteran care health issues with representatives from Denmark and the UK – two countries that have successful national single payer healthcare, where, they don’t need anything like the VA. A guy can hardly show up to a Pig Pharma Phest and not spend money he doesn’t have – yet.

Did you get a chance to read the original article published by the Washington Post.

It had the following to say about the meeting Shulkin collected a fee for speaking at in Denmark. Note how the Phama executives whine about being forced to attend just so Shulkin could streach out his vacation/speaking tour.

“It is not clear whether the London invitation came before or after the scheduling of the events in Copenhagen, which included speaking with several Danish health-care executives at a luncheon organized by a Danish business group. A spokesman for one company in attendance, Leo Pharma, said the executives were asked by the Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry to attend.

In any event, the Copenhagen meetings occurred at a time the business group said was inconvenient, because it was a holiday period for Danes.

“It was quite difficult for us to accommodate,” said Kasper Ernest, a director at the Confederation of Danish Enterprise, noting that his group’s chief executive could not attend. “I was also on holiday.””

Hey Seymore,
Have you noticed this kind of crap going on in many government and nongovernmental agencies for some time?
For example, a “head asswipe” of some agency/corporation/company takes a (allegedly) “working 10 to 14 day EXPENSIVE vacation”, where they meet and discuss “work related issues” for about an hour, then take ALL of the “expenditures” off the vacation, thereby receiving almost all the monies (90 to 95%) back!???????
(I think I explained it correctly!)

Why bother with the OIG. What he intended is unethical, wrong and anyone else would have been fired some time ago.
If history is any bases for judgement, than anything the government attempted has been a failure and throwing more money at anything will make it not in the least better. Example is the CHOICE program. Spectrum Hospital as well as a number of other medical facilities have separated them selves from the program since none of them have been paid since June. Spectrum Hospital is owed over 20 millions. In time we will find out that much of the billions the VA gave them has been swindled away

Peter,
Here’s in Florida, it was reported, [last year], hospitals were owed OVER $140+ million due to the VA’s unwilling to settle their debts!
How many veterans were saddled with those figures and turned over to collections must be staggering!

What I cannot fathom about the VA Choice program stiffing all these providers is how they are getting away with it.

I can only guess it has got to be that many of these providers might be smaller, independent entities. Choice only pays at the Medicare rate, and how many large hospitals accept that? How many reports have we heard of many doctors refusing to accept Medicare patients because of the low rate of pay?

You can bet that if Choice was stiffing a larger hospital, administrators at that hospital would be on the phone with their favorite, wholly owned politician demanding payment.

Issues like this keep coming up during this administration, but it has been an issue in the past. During Clinton’s reign, Sec of Defense, Les Aspin flew his girlfriend to St. Lucia for a two week vacation, which turned out to be his last vacation as SECDEF.

Issues like this at VA have been reported on and coming up since 1921. After only nine years he first try at a veteran agency was dismantled owing to the complete and utter corruption that evolved immediately.

Then they formed the current version in the early 30’s and within months of the new one forming charges of rampant corruption already began to emerge. My friend this is not new and frankly the VA in its various forms and under various leaders has NEVER been free of corruption.

This agency is corrupt down to the core and nothing is untouched by it. VA is not broken at all. It is working the way it always has.

The OIG, just like this VA ethics office, will whitewash this thing; and, are only announcing this investigation to get people and the media off the VA’s back.

The VA Accountability Office is also, IMO, a sister/brother to the OIG, just created to whitewash the wrongdoings and gather a list of whistleblowers so management can be given marching orders to retaliate against them. BTW, going over three weeks with no response from the VA Accountability Office after I asked the simple question of who will investigate my complaint and how long will it take.

I must disagree: I think the VA created that Whistleblower Office Position **only** to keep a better *eye* on potential Whistleblowers…not protect them. It’s like asking each of them to walk the plank…the V.A. Titanic is both self-cleaning and self-serving.

Mafia-like Behavior – – – Recruit, Give, Take, Remove. Only this group (VA) was built by the US Gubmint Crowkin Crispy Critters, and supported by influencers of continued behaviors held UNaccountable. Nothing will change with the VA. Unless a group of solid-bonded Veterans stand up for change, or someone with power, or one that knows how to Pull-the-Plugs to drain this damn Stanky Swampus that is full of bio-waste.

Pul-leez, somebody stand up to force the VA to adhere to higher standards. MSM (Main Stream Media), there is enough verified information about the inside workings of the VA, that if one pursued the task of investigating this Agency, they’d have a field day with their findings. This is what truly baffles me. The pure evil is right in front of everyone’s eyes. Why doesn’t any influential Politician want to do anything in changing the VA?

Gun Control – – – You watch, in short time, we’re going to see Republicans calling out for, or directly supporting more stringent Gun Control. That Stock which easily converts weapons into an automatic type, will definitely be in their crosshairs. I betcha gun sales have received another momentous bump in sales. I don’t know where all this is going. But what I do know, is that those which are for more Gun Control will use the LV, NV massacre as their mascot example. And, rightfully so.

*For Instructional Purposes Only – Hurt feelings aren’t intended. I don’t want to have my comments tagged, flagged, and then get booted.

Since we’re being monitored, I’d feel more comfortable if I truly knew the guidelines or boundary’s of such NEW apps. Response? Although if I am flagged, I say sorry in advance, but to expect more, and again I say sorry. – – – Nutter.

ANutterVet: There are many programs only the managers know about, and there is no documentation to back up what they are being told to do. By doing that they remove the evidence that would hold them accountable.

At the Manchester VA facility, two doctors walked out without giving any notice because they had enough. In the one clinic, the doctors were being forced to see patients six days a week, and the patients were being booked so close they had no time to enter the notes in the veterans files, which caused them to either stay many extra hours at night or do it on Sunday. After many months of doing that one doctor walked out. The other doctor was a cardiologist and walked after being repeatedly overbooked for months in a row, and he also walked without notice.

The director, who has since been removed, told the personnel to hire four custodians and leave the doctor’s positions vacant. No documentation to back up what she told them to do! In any case, the director and her chief were both removed after whistle blowers went to the Boston Globe and spilled their guts. When the Globe finished their investigation, and published it, it came out that the chief was cooking the books, just as was happening in Phoenix. The OIG was there within 24 hours of the Globe’s story being released, but my question is why didn’t the OIG come out when the whistle blowers went directly to them?

The VA is only there to throw out propaganda, trying to make the public believe the government is providing adequate services to the ones who served, but anyone with actual dealings with the VA knows otherwise. As I’ve said before, we need to phone our reps every day till they take action to make things change. If they don’t act, fight for their removal.

WE are ultimately their bosses, so make them earn their paycheck. Working in DC should not be a free ride for anyone!

Paul, to your question on why congress installed Shulkin…an examination of where the VA budget flows, to which congressional districts and companies and who is invested in those companies would answer that.

It would also answer why it takes many calls to a rep or senator to get them to do anything, why there is little accountability in the VA, and why the VA is allowed to get away with targeting whistle blowers and breaking the law.

Congressional concern flows from committee jurisdiction and protection of turf. Reps and Senators won’t do much in the way of investigation if a committee chair doesn’t want to investigate. Its looked on as invading one’s turf. The exception is if a specific Rep or Senator is embarrassed like Sen. Ron Johnson or Senator Baldwin in WI. They will then hold field hearings to show their concern, but beyond that, the committee’s of jurisdiction don’t do much.

Ask yourself why the House or Senate VA committees have not held hearings on VA whistle blowers being targeted.

I think a couple of the reasons Shulkin is getting an anal probe over his travel is that the media is reporting it, and committees with jurisdiction outside the House and Senate VA committees are asking questions.

I agree, and my sources at various VA hospitals across the country refuse to come forward because they have seen what the whistle blowers are put through. The whistle blower gains protections, under the law, but there are many other ways to get the whistle blower to quit on their own. If there are multiple shifts in their unit, they will be put on the worse ones. Their hours will be cut, making it difficult for them to continue to pay their bills and keep working there. And, there are lots more ways to make it convenient for them to walk out the door.

I have one source who came out against the hospital he works at. Without an actual demotion, he is being assigned duties normally assigned to individuals far below his pay grade. He is attending school to get a higher degree, and the changed his hours preventing him from being able to take the classes.

Another, at the same facility, has exposed that the VA is operating a rehab facility, that is actually located on skid row, and to get to the facility, the veterans have to go past their friends and dealers still living, or working out of the area. How is this going to help them be successful in their recovery?

The VA operates using the “setup to fail” management beliefs, and the exposure of their incompetence is the only way to make things change. Another issue is that Congress planted Shulkin, someone unable to even run VHA, into the Sec. VA position. How could they make such an asinine move when he was incompetent in the Dep Sec VHA position? We are the ones failing to hold our reps accountable for allowing the VA to proceed in the manner they operate. If we want things to change at the VA, we need to let our reps know we will do everything possible to ensure they lose the next election if they do not act to change things at the VA!

Wait a tick! Why would the OIG be investigating anything? Cashour claimed Shulkin had everything approved by some ethics office?

If the OIG finds anything wrong, should they investigate the ethics office and how they came to give Shulkin a thumbs up?

But then, this is the same OIG that found nothing wrong at Tomah. The same OIG and ethics office that saw nothing wrong with Tom Burch and his Rolls Royce.

Why is the OIG even investigating? Who called for the investigation? I can’t see the OIG initiating an investigation on their own. I do notice the OIG removed from their web site a listing of what they investigate. When I called their hotline in June of 2016, I received a letter a year later saying they only investigate:

Is it possible they consider what Shulkin did misconduct? Or only because what Shulkin did has been reported in the media?

The OIG likely got a fire lit under it’s ass when Senator Grassley mentioned several days ago about possible Congressional hearings into travel by cabinet members.

I go back to what I commented on a few days ago in your previous post Ben. Cashour seemed to be clear that he wanted to be quoted in the media that his wife went along because she had “invitational orders”. If you read the links to the VA policies I posted in that comment, the sections on “invitational orders” suggest if another country invites someone to speak, they are doing so in their professional capacity. What presentation did his wife give in her professional, civilian capacity as a Dermatologist? What best practices were exchanged on Dermatology that the Brits and Danes could not figure out? Did Shulkin or his flunkies pressure the Danes or Brits for that invitation? It appears they pressured them to meet with him to justify part of his trip given their comments in other media reports.

Any credible OIG investigation is going to start with asking Shulkin for a copy of the invitation required per VA policy from the foreign government extending the invitation. They then can request his official vouchers, and hers, and whether they match up with any official leave approvals Shulkin was given that match up with his sight seeing days off. Hell, they should request his official time and attendance records as well to see if he even took leave for those days.

All should be easily accessible by the OIG and should prove what Shulkin claims, or will prove the extent of his fraud.

On this, the OIG should investigate by the book. If not, there may be plenty of media organizations that will do their jobs for them. And an embarrassed Congress that might finally investigate themselves.

You started off asking the question “Wait a tick! Why would the OIG be investigating anything?”

The simple answer is that it shut down any an all other investigations by Congress, the press, DOJ, and any other agency. Given no one at the VA will be able to speak on record during any open investigation by the VAOIG office of whitewash management.

SK, I will agree it will shut down most investigations, but I know congress can still investigate if they choose since that has happened in the past, and may be happening now with some Trump investigations.

The question is, is congress embarrassed enough to do so. Or will they do it to CYA in the face of the media?

I may have commented long ago here either before Trump was elected or sometime shortly after. I believe I commented about why the media may not cover certain issues and why they covered others. I think I included what would happen in his first 6 months, and that the media would focus on scoring blood against Trumps administration, and once a little bit of blood was scored, it would be like a feeding frenzy.

I seem to recall mentioning that the media would not cover other subjects until their frenzy was over.

So far, the score is Flynn, Priebus, Scaramucci and Bannon. That was over the Russia thing or for other reasons.

They got a special prosecutor, so it’s time to move on to other targets.

Price, possibly Zinke and possibly Shulkin are next on the menu. Do they deserve it? More than likely if everything they have done has been accurately reported. The only one I don’t know about in detail is Zinke. I suspect the media will continue until they score more blood.

What will their next target be? I don’t know, but it would be nice to see some prosecutions of some of the crap going on.

91VETERAN: A FOIA must request documents, not names, plans, or things not in writing. I have two FOIA requests that I’m getting ready to push into court as the facility in question has not provided the documents requested.

So, I agree the a FOIA request needs to be submitted, but if there is no documentation showing what happened, they will not be required to give anything.

I agree a FOIA request for documents that do not exist would go no where, but someone submitting a well-written FOIA would still get results. Even if the response was a “no records exist” for a request of records for the last 5 years documenting how many people have had “invitational travel” paid by the VA would be worth it.

Records exist. Whether they are provided depends on persistence and media exposure or help.

In my thinking, one would ask why the foreign government extending the invitation did not pay the travel.

In addition, a FOIA request for all “invitations” from foreign governments for “invitational travel” as required by VA travel policy should exist and can be provided. The VA can claim Privacy Act exemptions, but those can be appealed or redacted. Same as any presentations provided for these meetings. If a foreign government extended an invitation to someone to present, and that person’s travel was paid by the VA, it must have been important enough for the VA to document.

Any “no records exist” response would show incompetence and lack of concern for their budget.

Having submitted numerous FOIAs to the VA, Pentagon, Army, Air Force, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and others over the past 20 years, with responses on all, I understand how the process works.

That includes receiving several thousand pages from a specific Pentagon entity where they were forced to print out the titles of millions of documents contained in a database they maintained.

Depending on the documents sought, if the request got the attention of Congress, they might request the same where the VA would have a hard time denying them.

Almost every single one of Ben’s article topic’s, can be better defined by linking the problem straight into a full-blown Audit for clearer verification. The process of evaluation will reveal just how wide and deep the corruption, theft, and other types of misuse of Taxpayers Monies, that are possibly illegally, but rampantly occurring through certain Distribution Points within the VA’s Network of Operational Services.

The Human factor would most likely be quite revealing, and would attribute to further Auditing. If only would could get a BIG PUSH that blasts off the plea’s and wishes of our Veterans. – – – Nutter.

Are you sure Shinseki was the issue, or could it have been the corrupt bonus program, and the fact that he was kept in the dark about what was actually going on.

I don’t know how many have managed very large nationwide companies, but I have on two occasions. You hire managers who are qualified to do their job. You monitor their activities for a period of time to ensure they are capable of doing what they have claimed, but over time you release the reigns a little and allow them to do their job unrestricted, as long as good results are being achieved, but during that time the manager is learning ways to circumvent the system, and if the upper management allows too much freedom, issues will bite them in the but. I believe that is what happened with Shinseki, he over trusted his managers!

One of the programs that is causing so many indirect failings at the VA is their bonus system. I refused to use a program such as that as I believed that the managers were paid for doing a good job, not for cooking the books to pad their wallets. If the VA wants to come up with programs that they are able to fund internally, they need to eliminate the undeserved bonus program. Instead they need to hold the managers accountable for doing an exceptional job, and if they don’t they need to be sent to the curb, not allowed to retire of retrain and move to another position, as is being allowed, with the VAOIG watching, for the former director and chief at the Manchester NH facility.

The OIG should be an OUTSIDE agency, and not come under the Sec. VA. As it is, all the VAOIG is, is a propaganda tool that is used to make it look as if the VA is doing their job, when we know it isn’t. As I’ve said in the past and will say again: Congress needs to take action to fix the corruption in the VA, and it is up to us to take action to remind them they work for us, and if they do not act to cure the hurts projected upon us by the VA, they will be looking for a new job.

The ball is in our court, and we need to make a good serve and leave it up to them to hit it back, or miss the ball and end their game. There are organizations planning protests at the VA headquarters in DC the beginning of December. They are coming from all over the nation to make the public aware of the VA’s incompetence. I will update the info as more becomes available, but the more vets we can get there the more it will show the public there are issues, and the VA is allowing vets to die while covering up their wrongdoings.

If Shinseki was competent, he would have been aware of a number of problems in the VA before being fired.

He served from 2009 until 2014. He should have been well-aware of VA problems before they blew wide open.

As for the VAOIG, how they operate, or don’t operate, is dictated by the laws passed by Congress years ago creating OIGs. Unless Congress gets involved and conducts oversight of how well those laws are carried out, IGs will operate however they want.

Congress decided long ago to let agency IGs twist in the wind or do whatever ass-covering they wanted when Obama set the tone by firing 4 of them in his first months in office.

Congress ignored those firings, and meekly gave up their oversight authority in the process.

This just ludicrous at best. This trip would have been discussed, planned etc. and the question of it being ethical was never raised???? Why do we have these type of leaders in positions of authority in our government??? This makes a decent person physically sick.

There are always investigations, one on top of the other with never any complete results. Wasted time and money.
Being a VA guinea pig since 2004. I have been used and abused, discriminated against and even yelled at over the years by the VA. I have had finances impacted because of their mistakes. From 11 years previous.
Now there’s Civilian doctors that won’t even see veterans when referred out, because they are not getting paid in a timely fashion.
Someone really needs to do the right thing here. The problems are not going away. When employees of the VA abuse their position for the ” Perks of the job “, they take away from those that have given their lives for this country.
Abuse of power needs to end, and accountability needs to begin.

There are always investigations, one on top of the other with never any complete results. Wasted time and money.
Being a VA guinea pig since 2004. I have been used and abused, discriminated against and even yelled at over the years by the VA. I have had finances impacted because of their mistakes. From 11 years previous.
Now there’s Civilian doctors that won’t even see veterans when referred out, because they are not getting paid in a timely fashion.
Someone really needs to do the right thing here. The problems are not going away. When employees of the VA abuse their position for the ” Perks of the job “, they take away from those that have given their lives for this country.
Abuse of power needs to end, and accountability needs to begin.

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